Summary. Research suggests that generalized fears about hiring people with a criminal history — such as fear they’ll commit another crime — are tough to square with the facts. An expansion of what’s often called “second-chance” or…Employers are desperate to recruit hundreds of thousands of workers who seemingly have vanished from the workforce. People with criminal histories represent a large pool of labor that could fill the gap. So why aren’t more managers hiring them?
We consistently hear of several fears: Fear the person will commit another crime. Fear of negligent hiring lawsuits. Fear of customer reactions or how other employees will respond.
New research findings, however, show these generalized fears are tough to square with the facts. Given the current era of near-record low unemployment, the moment may finally have come when facts can outcompete fear and spur a critical mass of employers to access the deep well of untapped talent represented by people with convictions.
An expansion of what’s often called “second-chance” or “fair-chance” hiring could drive a triple win for the U.S. economy: Employers get the workers they need, people with convictions get jobs they need, and costs to society decline with the lower rates of re-offending that are associated with holding a job. To get there, employers need to recognize some of the myths that impede progress:
To add to this Harvard article, 9 Myths About Hiring People with Criminal Records (Cornell Univ, School of Industrial and Labor Relations, 26 Jun 2020)
The article, not surprisingly, did not mention the unique challenges of people on the registry. We not only have to overcome all the same obstacles that everyone else with a record has to to get the job, any job we get is always dangling by a string.
Many here have experienced this first hand, some more than once. All of a sudden, the job you count on, and you thought was secure, is just gone. Taken away by the registry, either legally or illegally. Either by the will of your employer, or by the demands of your coworkers. Demands that can be based on facts about your past, speculation about your present and/or future, or outright lies about any moment in your life past, present and future.
This is why I no longer even attempt to find work. I’m sure I could get some kind of job, though I doubt it would be anything like what I use to do. I’m sure the is someone that would give me some kind of work, and it would certainly improve my financial situation of total desperation at all times. I’m also sure it would improve my currently pointless life of almost total isolation and hopelessness. At minimum it would get me out of my Fortress of Solitude from time to time.
It’s not that I can’t get a job, it’s that I can’t live with the idea that at any moment, all gone. I would rather have nothing, than loose it all again. That’s me, I hope it’s not you.
This is a unique challenge of those of us on the registry. Knowing that at any time, anyone can take away anything they want. There is nothing in my life that I will ever have that can’t be taken away by anyone willing to do what it takes. I learned that from both occasions when a “Friend” vindictively tired to get me attacked/killed because they were mad at me. Also from the “Friend” that made me into his indentured servant by manipulating my fear of that happening again and my depression to hold on to something that I loved I feared he could take away, with lies. Turns out, I lost it anyway, because of him.
All on the registry are at the mercy of all that know, limited only by what they are willing to do and risk to harm you. Fortunately, most people will not wish to harm you, and even among those that do they will not risk anything more than petty slights, mean comments, or at most idle threats. However, the more you have, the more options to harm you they have. Most still will do nothing, but some will.
These realities never get mentioned in articles like this. Perhaps they are unique to me? I don’t think so. Perhaps my response is, but the reality that drives them isn’t.
I don’t want to spoil the reading of this by the forum, but I found it highly interesting that NC and FLA are two states cited in the article as data sources, which are two of the worst states for PFRs. There must be exception clauses in there somewhere, right?
RAND is a CA entity which, IMO, is a perfect tie for @ACSOL to reach out to for considerations of what they are doing to help PFRs and get more data published to help PFRs get away from the stigma of the registry. The fruits of this article can be well shared with many to help bring down the barriers PFRs face in finding work.
If the registry isn’t punitive, then why is it that every job we apply for that rejects us, sends us letters with our name on the national registry? If it’s not punitive, then why can’t we work at a job where it’s near a park? If LE truly wants us to reintegrate back into society, wouldn’t you think that they would wants us to find jobs that we 1) actually enjoy doing 2) actually pay something besides crap wages 3) have opportunities for growth?
I am 30 years old, have a bachelors degree and job experience in non profit, state, and federal work and can no longer get a job in the fields where I have worked at in the past.
A simple solution to all the fears over hiring people with criminal histories: Hire only people with criminal histories. They typically work harder, and often, for less pay than their peers, and will likely never prove to be a problem for HR.